3314
Stargate Colliery
Ryton
54.969488,-1.776787
Townley Main Colliery
Emma Pit
Opened:
Closed:
1845
1968
Entry Created:
3 Sept 2021
Last Updated:
28 Oct 2024
Redeveloped
Condition:
Owners:
Stella Coal Co. (1890s - 1947), National Coal Board (1947 -)
Description (or HER record listing)
NEHL - The Emma Pit had opened in the 1840s, sitting on a site on the old road from Gateshead to Hexham. The Emma Pit was connected to Stargate via a waggonway opened at a similar time, which can mostly still be walked today (https://www.northeastheritagelibrary.co.uk/coalsarchive/ww15/towneley-main-waggonway).
It was originally 833 fathoms deep, exploiting an extensive list of seams - the Main seam, Crow Coal, Upper Five Quarter, Ruler, Towneley, Hidge, Tilley, Stone Coal, Lower Five Quarter, Three Quarter and the Brockwell though the first few had already been exploited by earlier workings. Like Stargate, it was owned by the Stella Coal Co. who ruled the roost round these parts also owning the Addison Pit near the river. The pit had an onsite smithy and gasometer in the 1850s, and seldom changed by the 1890s.
Much of Bar Moor developed around the pit, with pit housing cropping up in the second half of the 19th century to accommodate the 400+ people working here. This went up to around 950 by the 1930s. The working continued through nationalisation until 1968.
The pit wheel is preserved on the site today.
"Townley Main Colliery was served by the Townley Main Wagonway, (SMR 3317), which linked to it. The 1st edition OS mapping shows the Emma Pit, a gasometer and smithy in the complex. Opened 1845 and closed April 1968. Owned by the Stella Coal Co in the 1850s, and from 1947 the National Coal Board. Whellan reported that in 1894 the colliery produced 550 tons of coal per day." - Sitelines

Ordnance Survey, 1890s

Emma Pit, undated. A chaldron wagon is featured in the foreground. Unknown original source
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The Emma Colliery pit wheel, taken in April 2023.
Historic Environment Records
Durham/Northumberland: Keys to the Past
Tyne and Wear: Sitelines
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